[Fallen Apostle: Mana Sense, book 2 of the series, is available for pre-order now!! Link below]
"Together!" Dob roared.
His lackeys abandoned their pincer attack, sliding back with a practiced ease and placing their hands on Dob's shoulders before all three punched out at once.
Ryu raised an internal eyebrow. It was rare to see such a poor attempt at team work, but he still had to admit that the result was powerful. These three had more raw strength than he did to begin with, his only option was to overwhelm them with skill and comprehension.
The three of them shattered the arrow of ice, but the residual energies began to crawl up their arms, the harsh cold eating away at their protective qi coats and eroding them.
Dob realized that if he just stayed back and let Ryu increase the distance, the results would only get worse and worse for them. Gritting his teeth, he clenched his fist and shattered the ice threatening to cover his arm and shot forward, circulating his own movement technique to the extreme.
Ryu could tell that it was just Heaven Grade technique. While it lacked Dao Charm, what it lacked was made up for by Dob's deeper comprehension and the fact it was a Peak Heaven Grade technique. It was clear that Dob rarely brought out this technique to avoid incurring the greed of everyone around him. But, with the situation like this, he still decided on bringing it out in the end.
The coldness in Ryu's gaze only grew more prominent. Large Success Heaven Grade technique? Still not enough.
Ryu tapped his foot again, raising his use of his movement technique to 0.5%.
His body tore across the snow landscape like a ball out of a canon, the distance between himself and Dob beginning to increase instead of decrease like it had been.
His fingers reach for his bowstring once more, his bow being raised up.
As though blazing meteors, three ice arrows shot forward, appearing before Dob before he could even react. He tried to punch out, but he missed. The impact to his chest caused him to cough up a mouthful of blood, but he hadn't even landed on the ground yet when two more arrows appeared before him, crashing into the very same location.
On the third impact, his qi skin shattered and his body was assaulted by the cold from all sides.
'It actually took me three head on strikes.'
Ryu's gaze narrowed. These True Martial World cultivators were, indeed, powerful. Even though only the Water Rune had lit up just now, it was still being influenced and supported in part by the other seven runes. If Ryu had to guess, even with him holding back like this, it was still more powerful than most True Daos and probably matched Lineal Daos in strength.
And yet, it took that much. It seemed that Dao couldn't breach cultivation gaps that easily in the True Martial World.
To put this matter into perspective, most only had Common Daos on the First Heaven, it wasn't until the Third Heaven where Lineal Daos would start appearing and not until the Fourth where they were commonplace.
There were some exceptions to this, but they were very, very rare.
The fact that Dob had taken three strikes and even survived them was a wakeup call to Ryu. In this place, he couldn't just take comprehension to be the end all be all. Foundation and cultivation were very important factors as well.
"Dob!"
The two rushed over toward him, but why would Ryu allow them to do as they pleased? Dob might be able to survive, but how could they?
Ryu's cold gaze sharpened, releasing four more arrows in quick succession.
The two lackeys were caught off guard. Something about the speed of Ryu's arrows seemed even faster than before, a tempest of Bow Qi ripping through their defenses and needling cold wind and qi into their inner organs.
They froze in place, their bodies quickly turning into ice statues.
"No, no, no!"
Hearing Dob's screams, the two men felt somewhat touched, they hadn't thought that Dob cared so much. But, what happened next left their midns blank… Not because they didn't know how to react, but rather because they had their lives.
Dob's roars formed a crater of snow around him, the solid earth beginning to tremble somewhat.
Ryu didn't even need to think to understand. This was definitely a Secret Technique, but it was already too late to stop it.
A tattoo on Dob's back burst apart and formed a bloody rose that sent vines of crimson through the skulls of his two companions. In one moment, they had been turning into ice, and in the next, they had become piles of ash.
Dob's own aura skyrocketed, shattering the barrier that had stifled him from so long and stepping into the Dao Pedestal Realm.
The oppressive danger that Ryu felt multiplied several times over as the qi of Dob's Spiritual Foundation sprung to life, flooding his meridians.
Ryu's pupils constricted as he could feel Dob's Dao actually strengthening as well. It seemed that this man's Dao was related somehow to that flower coming from his back. While it was still a Common Dao, it had evolved to the Third Immortal Dao Level, two steps beyond Ryu's.
This was shocking. Usually, a Dao would be a Level beneath your current Realm even for a genius. But, Dob's was actually on par with his just like Ryu's own! Ryu was absolutely certain that this had to be related to the Secret Technique.
Dob's eyes went completely red, his Dao flourishing. As it did so, the qi in the surroundings began to sapped away, making Ryu's next arrow weaken considerably and almost fizzle out.
Ryu's gaze only grew colder at this result.
If Dob wanted to play, they could play.
"Take Form and Conquer the World!"
The skies suddenly rumbled, causing Ryu's expression to change.
These were the words he used to summon his Immortal Rings but the First Heaven didn't seem to be happy with them.
A strong pressure descended upon Ryu, seemingly wanting to shatter his Immortal Rings entirely and stop them from appearing at all.
Just as Ryu faltered, Dob was already attacking once more, his strength several levels what it had been before.
And, as though that wasn't bad enough, half a kilometer away, a Black Grade Ninth Order Wolf Beast caught the attention of Ryu's Spiritual Sense.
It stood up, his eyes radiating a piercing blue as it shot forward.
In a single bound, it had already crossed over 20 meters. In just a few more seconds, it would be here.